Six Nations 2013: Ronan O'Gara's Ireland career could be over

Ronan O'Gara's Ireland career looks to be over after the fly-half was left out of a 32-man squad for the Six Nations game against France in Dublin.

O'Gara has struggled for form in recent weeks and Paddy Jackson was selected ahead of him for the defeat by Scotland after Jonathan Sexton was out injured.

Sexton has not yet been ruled out of Saturday's game, but Jackson and Ian Madigan have both been named as cover.

Andrew Trimble is back in the extended squad, with Robbie Diack also included.

The omission of O'Gara represents a major call by Irish coach Declan Kidney, who is under severe pressure after Ireland lost two of their opening three games.

Munster fly-half O'Gara is Ireland's most capped player with 128 appearances and also his country's all-time top points scorer on 1,083.

He won his first cap against Scotland in February 2000 and has been a key-part of the Ireland set-up ever since.

Sexton is still in contention to face the French as he continues his battle to overcome a hamstring strain, which ruled him out of the match at Murrayfield.

Last week Irish team manager Michael Kearney described Sexton's hopes of playing as "somewhat less than 50-50".

Andrew Trimble is in contention for a starting place against France

His replacement Jackson struggled with his goal kicking against the Scots but the Ulster youngster performed well in his province's Pro12 draw with Benetton Treviso on Friday.

Prop Cian Healy is back in the panel after winning an appeal against the timing of his ban, but Dave Kilcoyne remains in the squad, while Ulster's Tom Court drops out.

Lock Donnacha Ryan is included despite still struggling with a shoulder injury while his fellow second row Mike McCarthy continues to nurse the knee problem which ruled him out of the Scotland defeat.

Wing Craig Gilroy sustained a groin strain at Murrayfield but should be able to resume training early next week.

However, Gordon D'Arcy's foot injury will be remain in a protective boot for another week so he is ruled out of the French game.

Winger Trimble has been out of favour since the autumn internationals but has been handed an international lifeline with his inclusion in the squad.

The Ulsterman could put pressure on Keith Earls for a starting place ahead of the contest with the French at the Aviva Stadium.

Diack is selected for a Six Nations squad for the first time, but is unlikely to figure in the matchday 23, with his provincial team-mate Dan Tuohy also named.

Ireland's successive Six Nations defeats have led to intense speculation that Kidney's Ireland contract will not be extended beyond this summer but the coach has continued to deflect questions about his future.

Kidney has also come under fire for handing the captaincy to Jamie Heaslip, who replaced the vastly experienced Brian O'Driscoll as skipper before the Championship, but the coach has reiterated his faith in the Leinster number eight.

"Jamie's done an excellent job for us. He's making good decisions and I'm very happy with him," Kidney said.

Ian Madigan iss clearly the second best fly half in Ireland. He is way ahead of jackson in all categories. His running game is much better suited to their style of play. Ryan ogara is way past his sell by date he should have been removed from the shelves.

Excellent FH for club and country over the years but forever frustrated with his Lions Tours His percentage game is pointless on hard turf when teams can counter attack from deep. Much like JW he kicked too much quick ball away At least JW had a distribution game (although woeful in NZ). Never understood why we didnt use Hooky in SA loose nothing in D (they both cant takle) but he attacks the line

ROG should have retired after the WC...If a 6N team is to win the next world cup then they should have all adopted the Southern Hemisphere model of looking 4 years ahead with team selections. England to their credit did and its starting to pay off. Too much hype put on the 6N the year after WC, should be perfect chance to let some young talent get test experience..

dropping rog was right call as usual ireland wait till players are ancient before looking at replacing DK has gone the way of EOS picking on rep rather than form. why drop pick court ahead of kilcoyne when healy out then drop him makes no sense

Shame to see a good player go, but it was probably overdue since the World Cup. Just remember what a good player he was for Ireland and forget his occasional bad games, everybody has them. Remember he kicked the winning kick in the epic kicking battle to win the 2009 championship with a Slam. Forgive his turnstile defence which cost the 2009 Lions tour in the closing stages of the third test.

#137. Nice. I agree with you totall...he has been fantastic for country and provence. Sure he wasnt the best runner or tackler but he controlled the game like no other. Ireland were lucky to have him. Himself and S Jones deserve to pop the feet up now and say "job well done"

@133 glad you agree with something!@134 the success of Munster was a great for irish domestic rugby but terrible for ireland internationally. Munster reminded me of eng in 1991 - pummelling teams into submission and boring everyone to death in the process. Bring in schmidt and build a new attacking side for 2015.

ROG is not the biggest of blokes. I actually stood right next to him in Dublin outside the Shelbourne Hotel a few weeks back and he looked 12 stone dripping wet. He has played for Ireland for over a decade and has put his body on the line - that takes bravery at this level - especially when you are as small as he is. And by all accounts he is a decent bloke.

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